2017-05-24Introduced in Senate00Liability Insurance in Event of Spill Act or the LINES Act

This bill amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to cap the liability of parties that are responsible for oil discharges from a Great Lakes pipeline (any pipeline that crosses the navigable waters of the Great Lakes system) to the total of all removal costs plus $75 million.

A responsible party with respect to a Great Lakes pipeline must establish and maintain evidence of financial responsibility (e.g., evidence of insurance or a bond) in a certain amount.

Under current law, the Department of Transportation (DOT) may issue an emergency order to impose restrictions, prohibitions, and safety measures on owners and operators of gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facilities without prior notice or an opportunity for a hearing if they are necessary to abate an imminent hazard. This bill eliminates DOT's emergency order authority with respect to gas pipeline facilities.

The bill expands DOT's emergency order authority with respect to hazardous liquid pipeline facilities, including by allowing DOT to impose restrictions, prohibitions, and safety measures if it: (1) discovers reliable evidence that the pipeline is violating conditions required for its operation that were previously agreed upon between the responsible party and a state, tribal, or local government; or (2) determines, after consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard, that inadequate resources are available to respond to and clean up an oil spill during seasonal conditions or conditions expected or caused by an extreme weather event, or the responsible party cannot demonstrate that it has sufficient financial resources to satisfy the liability limits in the event of an oil spill incident.

]]>2018-04-13T22:01:30ZIntroduced in Senate2017-05-24T04:00:00ZShort Titles as IntroducedLINES ActShort Titles as IntroducedLiability Insurance in Event of Spill ActOfficial Title as IntroducedA bill to amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to equalize liability and financial assurance requirements for onshore pipeline facilities that could discharge oil into the Great Lakes system with such requirements for offshore pipelines, to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue an emergency order directing pipeline owners to comply with existing pipeline operating agreements or acquire sufficient resources to appropriately respond to possible oil spill incidents, and for other purposes.Display TitleLINES Act(Extracted from GPO) Short Titles as IntroducedLINES Act(Extracted from GPO) Short Titles as IntroducedLiability Insurance in Event of Spill Act115DGarySen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI]PetersC.79941929P000595MIP000595S1122017-05-24Environment and Public Works Committeessev00Senate0Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.IntroReferralLibrary of Congress9IntroReferral2017-05-2410000Introduced in Senate2017-05-24LINES ActAdministrative law and regulatory proceduresDepartment of TransportationEnvironmental regulatory proceduresGreat LakesHazardous wastes and toxic substancesLakes and riversMarine pollutionOil and gasPipelinesPollution liabilityTransportation safety and securityWater qualityEnvironmental ProtectionSenateEnvironmental Protection2017-05-24Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.ssev00SenateStanding2017-05-24T20:48:01ZReferred toEnvironment and Public Works Committee1.0.0STABENOWDTrue2017-05-24S000770DEBORAHSen. Stabenow, Debbie [D-MI]ANNMI82611531S0007702019-02-16T00:57:23Z12262017-05-25T00:26:39Ztext/xmlENPursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.Congressional Research Service, Library of CongressThis file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.